I am a 24-year-old New Zealander pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Melbourne. This isn’t my first foray into tertiary education. I completed undergraduate and honours degrees at the University of Auckland – making this my sixth year being a full-time student. My mum calls me a ‘forever student’ and my dad laughed … Continue reading Too Young For Free Education; Too Old For Free Education
Late last year, I left my long-term job. My unemployment was initially self-imposed, deliberate—and blissful, oh so blissful! but soon exceeded its anticipated expiration date, pushing further into the year than planned. It was (and is—for I am still reeling) the closest I have come to economic hardship. But to appropriate poverty is misdirected and … Continue reading Fear and (self)-loathing at the desktop: imposter syndrome in 2018
A boy slides along the bench to sit too close to my friends and me. He looks as though he might be nearing 30, but his awkwardness implies he has only recently left high school. ‘Keep talking, don’t mind me,’ he says. ‘I’m conducting some research—I want to know how girls talk to each other. … Continue reading An Ode to the Crimson Wave: Why I Love (to Talk About) My Period
When I think of the word ‘millennial’, I get a flash of jumbled and somewhat conflicting images: the rise of technology and social justice movements; globalisation; the Harry Potter craze; sardonic memes; Netflix bingeing; the expansion of higher education; a more competitive job market; the shadow of 9/11; and now, unfortunately, the turmoil of a … Continue reading A Millennial in the Time of Trump
Social media is a small numbers game: 280-character tweets, 15-second Instagram stories, 10-second snapchats. Generally speaking, if you were looking for 7,000-word longform, feminist fiction – social media is not the place to find it. Well, that was until a simple story about bad sex and imaginary cats surfaced the web last year. Published … Continue reading Millennial Feminist Writing in #MeToo Literature
As a graduate of a public liberal arts university, I was confident that I carried no stigma against mental illness. I had friends with various disorders, and I felt only compassion for them. I was sure I was above the stigma. And then people started telling me I might be depressed. I knew it might … Continue reading The Struggle to Confront My Own Stigma
Herr og fru Dumling i Hekkveien 4 var heldigvis fullstendig normale, takk. De var de siste en skulle vente seg innblandet i noe som helst merkelig eller mystisk. Den slags vrøvl holdt de seg for gode til. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank … Continue reading Honestly, don’t you guys read? A story of how Harry Potter taught me English
It was my fourth date with him—this funny, tall blond boy—and things were going shockingly well. As someone who’d essentially always been single, I was amazed (and mildly terrified) by how easily we clicked, how comfortable I felt around him from the get-go. Our first date, a Sunday afternoon show at the Malthouse, had led … Continue reading Open and Shut
I’m 27 and I don’t own a house. In fact, I don’t own any property. That’s right … I have reached my late 20s and I am a renter. *Gasp!* However, I’m going to make an educated guess that most people reading this would not be alarmed by my lack of property ownership. You’re probably … Continue reading I Don’t Own A House…But
It’s a Thursday night in the middle of October, and I am covered in the familiar, musky cocktail of sweat, blood and beer. Other humans knock clumsily into my shoulders and back, and the air is alive with masculine energy. Despite my whole body damp, sore, or tired, I feel invigorated, and alive. This young … Continue reading Chick in the Pit
